


A Quick Adjustment

by meshkol (ashernorton)



Series: Endgame Fix-It Fics [4]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Common Sense, Eternally Mad, Fix-It, Gen, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), fuck marvel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 21:17:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19411573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashernorton/pseuds/meshkol
Summary: Tony has a quick adjustment to make on Nebula before they go on their Time Heist, just in the nick of time.





	A Quick Adjustment

**Author's Note:**

> As usual, unbeta'd af. Fix-it #4 for that shitshow called Endgame. Y’know, because this is a glaring plot hole and Nebula or Tony would’ve pointed out the network issue. Also, I’m still mad. Fuck Marvel Studios.

“Hold up,” she hears from behind her, right as she’s stepping up onto the platform.

Nebula pauses, everyone before and behind her following suit, and they all simultaneously look at Tony, who looks like he’s swallowed a lemon. “What is it?” she hears Rogers say from his position, hands cocked on his hips and looking earnestly concerned. He generally always looks like that with Tony, she’s noticed, and from what she’s heard and read and seen from those two, it’s reminiscent of her own experiences with Gamora: too much distrust and self-internalised anger with a nice load of fear into the mix, leading to a turbulent relationship that had hurt and hurt and _hurt_ until it had finally developed into some kind of shaky, but earnest peace.

Nebula doesn’t really know Rogers that well – her own research as well as Tony’s reactions to him from the moment they’d landed on Terran soil have coloured her own regard, and she’s not easily trusting anyway, so she’s always avoided him just so she didn’t kill him in second-hand revenge – but it’s been glaringly obvious that Rogers has been trying hard to bridge the gap. He really does remind her of Gamora, all perfect and favoured and unstoppable, but clearly reaching for common ground and affection regardless.

Tony doesn’t bother answering Rogers’ question, instead reaching out and putting a hand on Nebula’s shoulder. She’s used to his casual affection and absent touches from him now but she still jumps, instinctively trying to protect herself out of long-ingrained fear of abuse; he ignores it though, just like he always does, and like always, she’s appreciative that he’s not making a big deal about her weakness. He frowns and asks her directly without removing the hand, “You’re tapped into the network, yeah?”

Nebula narrows her eyes, unsure as to why he’s asking such an obvious question, and despite the reluctance of talking in front of all these freaks, she replies, “You know this – you’ve done my repair work.”

His frown deepens, and then he says with mock cheerfulness, “Well, looks we’re gonna have to delay this pow-wow for a few minutes while I fix something. Sit tight, everyone, and let me work my magic.”

“What’s going on, Tony?” asks Banner, even as Tony’s pulling her back down the platform until he’s guiding her to sit on a metal box full of spare parts and equipment.

Tony moves behind her and prods at the port in the back of Nebula’s head as he answers, “Well, she’s connected to wireless transmission signals, being a magnificent cyborg of Thanos-killing proportions—” Nebula’s lips quirk, feeling that same odd burst of warmth when he talks to her like she’s perfect just the way she is, and it’s not even facetious. He genuinely believes it, especially now that he’s upgraded her multiple times, and not even Gamora had given her that acceptance. Once again, she vows to annihilate anyone who so much as _looks_ at Tony Stark wrong, and clenches her fists in an attempt to bleed out some of the energy and anger. “—but she’s primarily hooked into Thanos’s transmissions.”

 _Oh_ , she thinks, and fights down the urge to shudder at the implications.

She doesn’t flinch when he plugs something into her head and starts fiddling with her circuitry, and listens intently as he goes on in an absent ramble, “So, obviously, we know that Thanos is gonna send Gamora to Morag, which means that she’ll be in range of his deep space transmissions. Last thing we need right now is for him to catch wind that there’s another Nebula and hijacking her or something.”

“Damn,” Clint says, whistling through his teeth, and Nebula snorts. It’s always a bit annoying that they don’t see Tony the way she sees him, but she’s always liked Clint. They get along pretty well, the short time they’ve known each other, and they’re pretty similar in a lot of ways: unwilling to trust easily, quickly angered despite knowing better and regretting it afterwards, and a chip on their shoulder a star system wide, not to mention the burning need for vengeance against Thanos.

Tony does something that makes Nebula’s entire body twitch, eyes flashing with white before it stabilises, and then he shuts the doors on her head with a pat and squeeze of her shoulder. “All good over here. Closed down her wireless systems and putter on a closed-circuit that’s localised on private Avengers comms. I’ll switch you back on when we’re back. Feeling alright?”

“Yes,” she says shortly, standing up, and together they join the others, ready to take that last step to victory and vengeance.

* * *

They stabilise Bruce as the reports start coming in and phone calls are made.

Tony arranges so many things simultaneously – quinjet for Clint, Rogers’ means to return the stones, the rides for everyone commuting back to see loved ones, another quinjet for some stranger named May to head upstate, the Benatar being enlarged for the Guardians after they talk to the wizard about the Soul Realm, an entire medical team from some far-away place to assist Banner on ‘healing fast’, so many things, working and working and working _so hard_ to help everyone even though no one even thinks to help him too. Nebula tries, even though she knows that the other Guardians are watching her both incredulously – she’s not the helping type – and impatiently – Strange had confirmed that the stones couldn’t be destroyed, only dispersed, else the entire universe would have fractured and imploded, which means that they needed to get the Soul Stone again so they could save Gamora and Romanoff from the Soul Realm. There’s not really a lot she can do, but she does all she can, from calling Pepper and Morgan (she would die for either one of them too) and making sure he eats something. He always smiles at her, and she wonders if this is what having a father is supposed to feel like. It’s not like she has good experiences with the being who stole her from her home planet, after all, and she hadn’t known her biological father before that.

“You leaving me already, Major Kusanagi?” he says when he has a lull to himself, sitting down and tearing into the dead cow thing that she’d managed to muster up. She’s not a person who cooks, and she hadn’t known how to ‘order in’, so she figures it’s a terrible excuse for a ‘cheeseburger’, but he had talked about them enough on the Benatar when they’d both been starving, and she knows it’s his favourite thing. He doesn’t seem bothered by it, eating it with gusto, and she’s—she’s _happy_ she can do this little thing, when he’s done so much for her without an iota of fear or pity or disappointment or ultimatums.

She would burn the universe down for him, no doubt about it.

“Yes,” she says, looking at her fingers, her left arm shiny and new now that he’s repaired her (just another thing he’s done in the past twelve hours since Banner’s snap), and continues hesitantly, “Thank you. For everything.”

“You need anything, and I’ll be here to lend a hand,” he replies quietly, grasping her forearm with the hand that isn’t holding the charred, lumpy _thing_ she’d cooked for him. “You’re family now, and you’re always welcome back here on this little blue planet if and when you want.” He pauses for a second, and then says so quietly it’s almost a whisper, “You’re an amazing person, Nebula, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. You’re perfect, and fuck anyone who says otherwise. Send ‘em to me and I’ll piss on the bits you leave behind, okay?”

Nebula feels such an intense burst of fierce, surprising _love_ that she swallows her natural aversion and nerves so she can pull him into an awkward, stilting hug. He doesn’t even freeze or tense up, simply hugs her back, and she all but melts into this odd, Terran custom that’s...nicer than she would’ve expected.

She pulls away with a huff, refusing to make eye contact out of embarrassment and self-irritation, and he laughs as he pats her on the shoulder, giving her a wink as he swallows the last bite of the atrocity she’d made.

She turns on her heel and walks away without looking back, knowing that the next time she sees Tony Stark, she’ll be bringing Romanoff home where she belongs.

They have all the time in the world now.

**Author's Note:**

> [Also read on tumblr.](https://meshkol.tumblr.com/post/185941248374/title-a-quick-adjustment-pairingsrelationships)


End file.
